Canadian kids aged 2 to 5 more likely to be able to play computer games than ride a bike

The latest stats from Internet security company AVG are enough to scare Health Canada.

It’s more likely that a Canadian toddler can operate a mouse, a smartphone or play a computer game than swim, tie their shoelaces or make their own breakfast.

Are we raising generations of web-savvy couch potatoes?

Or is this giving an economic edge as our junior digerati leave their international counterparts behind in the race for technological skills?

According to the latest AVG study in its Digital Diaries, 58 per cent of Canadian children aged two to five can play a basic computer game — the same percentage among children in all 10 countries surveyed. By comparison, 49 per cent in that age range can ride a bike, slightly below the average of 52 per cent across all countries, but ahead of our American neighbors where 45 per cent in that age range can ride a bike.

Mastering a smartphone application is proving easier for the toddler and pre-school set than tying their own shoes. Some 18 per cent can operate a smartphone application, compared to 11 per cent who can tie their shoes.

Canadian children lead children in all the countries surveyed when it comes to being web savvy. One third of three-to-five-year-olds in Canada know how to open a web browser, compared to a quarter of those across all countries. While only 16 per cent of all children in the survey can navigate between websites, 22 per cent of Canadian kids had no problem with that.

Gender is not an issue with virtually the same percentage of girls, 59 per cent, able to play a computer game as boys, at 58 per cent. And 29 per cent of girls in that age range can make a mobile phone call, while 28 per cent of boys can do the same. However, kids in continental Europe are more likely to be able to make mobile phone calls than kids in Canada and the United Sates

Moms over the age of 35 seem to have better success at teaching ‘life skills,’ according to the study, which points out that 40 per cent of toddlers with moms aged 35+ can write their own name, compared to 35 per cent of those whose mothers are 34 or younger.

Among other findings across all 10 countries surveyed:

— 58 per cent of young children know how to play a computer game compared to 20 per cent who can swim and 52 per cent who can ride a bike than swim

— 28 per cent of young children can make a mobile phone call, but only 20 per cent know to dial 911 in an emergency

— 69 per cent of children aged two to five can operate a computer mouse; only 11 per cent can tie their own shoelaces

The survey, the second in AVG’s Digital Diaries, included 2,200 mothers with Internet access and with children aged two to five in Canada, the US, EU5, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. The first study found that children on average have an online footprint by the time they are six months old.